Question: Would you pass on all your research to somebody else if they could make a big advancement is science ?

In research we are encouraged to collaborate with others in other research facilities, institutions or even in depts of our own institution. If I felt they could advance and help the work I was doing, I most definitely would look to combine forces and work on taking things further. A lot of research takes years and so is passed from one researcher to the next to continue the exciting developments!

I agree with Hannah. I would definitely pass my research on (or work together) if there was a chance that they could make a big advancement. We already regularly work with other groups of researchers to pursue our research aims and expand our understanding of blood vessels and other tissue types.

For example, a research group at King’s College in London recently made a new discovery about a ‘new’ way a particular enzyme is activated. To prove their theory, they developed a mouse which was genetically modified so that the enzyme could not be activated in this ‘new’ way, but could still be activated in the ‘old’ way. We were convinced by their experiments and the results they got and we were fortunate that they allowed us to work with them and use their genetically modified mice to see what role this ‘new’ way of activating the enzyme has in the way blood vessels respond to pressure. Our experiments showed that this ‘new’ way of activating the enzyme actually plays a significant role in the way blood vessels respond to pressure and now we have put forward a theory that our results support; it was previously thought that this enzyme was not involved . If our group was not able to work with the group at King’s College (for whatever reason) then this discovery would not have been possible.

Of course, if a big advancement was made after I passed on my research, I would hope that I would get some of the credit.